28 February 2011

So, I'm sensing a lot of "ugh! Monday..." vibes out there today, so I have decided to try and cheer you all up by letting you in on a lovely plan I have come up with. Thanks, in no small part, to the indirect influence of a friend with a surpirse gift of yarn, I have started into a pretty little pattern, using pretty little stitches, which I think will grow up to be an awesome button-down t-shirt design.

So far, I am super-excited about it, and I want to share it with everyone for free.

Once it's finished, I will be adding Happy Monday as a free pattern to my Ravelry page, but only if it gets some love on here! So, tell me what you think so far? I'll be keeping everyone up-to-date on Happy Monday's progress as it appears off my hook.

22 February 2011

Oh my God, I love Hedgehog Fibres!
Look at this! It's made out of their truly gorgeous Cashmere lace-weight. I'm just moss stitching it, nothing fancy, and it is coming out like a dream. I honestly don't even care what it's going to become, it's that nice.

If you don't have any, I suggest you remedy that situation, pronto. The world should know Hedgehog!

A few days ago, I was blessed with a trip to Donegal with the boyfriend and a few friends. We had a great few days of feeding goats, being almost blown off mountains, and drinking too much home-made wine. It rained; sleeted; snowed a bit; and was so beautifully sunny that this was almost the only cloud in the sky at one stage.

I absolutely fell in love with the whole county. It's rugged and out of the way, and the locals still think that driving down the middle of a two-way road is perfectly fine.

And I have a gift for you lovely people. Your very own pretty bitty daisy earring How-To!

This time of year always has me impatient for things to start growing, for the weather to brighten just enough for me to play in my balcony garden and to enjoy seeing everywhere slowly get greener. Today, in fact, I got a call from my little sister, to let me now the daffodils were starting to appear around her work. I haven't seen any out this way, yet, but it's just a matter of time.

In the mean time, I'm going to enjoy wearing my Daisy Drops, and I hope you do, too.

The key to crocheting with wire is to use a metal hook. Plastic and wooden ones just won't stand up to the pressure and may get marked and scratched.

What you will need to make these pretty litle diasy drop earrings is:
3mm hook
2 earring fixtures
some #28 wire. Anything thinner is liable to break.

Note: The fllowing is written in UK stitch names.
For translation, check out this post.

1. First, loop the wire around the body of the hook, and twist ends together three times. This will be the loop you'll work all subsequent stitches into. Chain twice.

2. Now, working into the loop you created, dc12, working a few of these sts over the tail to secure it inside the earring. 1sl-st into 1st dc to close round.

01 February 2011

This may be the first day of Spring, but that's certainly not stopping it from being bloody freezing! I'm sitting here, writing out a pattern for a future issue of the lovely Inside Crochet, and I'm literally covered in crochet projects, trying to keep warm. Right now, I'm almost regretting my decision to send this latest published pattern in to the magazine at all. It'd be so good to have it around right now!

Still, these are the sacrifices we make for the greater good (i.e., you lot!). This way, I'm freezing, but you all have the potential to be super cozy, thanks to Some Like it Hottie, a hot-water bottle cover pattern, with some lovely cabeling and some gorgeous ribbon.